Archive for the 'Everything Else' Category

One week ago, I had a chance to talk to Felicia Day, an American actress who has gained considerable renown for embracing her geeky side.

In 2007, Day created a pioneering web TV show called The Guild that focused on a group of disparate characters in a World of Warcraft-like MMO who are nonetheless bound together by their devotion to the game — and to each other as teammates.

After launching The Guild, Day went on to co-star in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, an award-winning musical miniseries crafted especially for the web. She has also acted in shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and Eureka.

Just this year, Day released a memoir called You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost), that I read from cover-to-cover in a few days and enjoyed immensely. In it, she talked about growing up in the American South, her gaming habits, embracing her geeky nature, and creating The Guild.

With that book in mind, I thought it would be fun to ask her some questions about her early computing and gaming habits. Along the way, we touch on the philosophy of genius and celebrity, and whether it’s safe to do an interview while you’re driving a car.

Although Vintage Computing and Gaming turns 10 years old today, I actually registered the “vintagecomputing.com” domain name back on June 8, 2000. This is what Network Solutions sent to me in the mail. I was only 19 years old — now I’m 34. Time flies.

It wasn’t the first domain I’d ever registered, but it was an early one. I wanted to use vintagecomputing.com for an online computer museum that would show off my vintage computer and video game collection. I never got around to creating that.

Another project got in the way of all of those plans, and I ended up working on music at Request-A-Song.com instead until October 2005.

I finally put my vintagecomputing.com domain to good use — over five years later — when I decided to make a blog on that fateful day in November 2005.

[ From Networks Solutions Domain Registration Letter, June 13 2000]

Discussion Topic of the Week: What was the first domain name you ever registered?

This video may be old news to many of you, but the stakes are too high not to post this for those who might not have seen it already. I honestly wasn’t too worried about SOPA when I first heard about it because I figured the US Senate wouldn’t take something so ridiculously anti-Internet seriously. But I was mistaken — they seem to like it quite a bit, and SOPA may very well be passed into law soon.

Everything we know and love about the Internet today will change if SOPA is signed into law. I will have to take down my articles on ROM hacking and suppress discussion of emulation, for example, or face the possibility that VC&G will forced off the web. Heck, I might even end up in jail. With SOPA, freedom of speech will be suppressed and the Web will become one giant glazed-over commercial for McDonalds.

We can’t let one misguided law castrate one of humanity’s greatest inventions in the name of preventing the unauthorized copying of entertainment media. If you like reading VC&G, tell your local representatives today that you do not support SOPA and will hold them accountable if they support it themselves.